Aqua-Soft ForumsIm building a custom server case and im wonderin if there any resources out there for templates? ie: the holes for K, V, M, USB, Serial ports and such.
Atx Motherboard Templates
Moved to proper location.
Nowadays, motherboard manufacturers are creating pretty much whatever layout they want. The individual item are stadardized in size, but the layouts change. That's why most of the manufacturers provide a snap-in plate.
My suggestion is to design your case with a spot to snap in the plate provided since these are all the same size . You should easily be able to get hold of one to use for measurements and testing.
The hard part would be to get the proper placement of the template. Since ATX cases have a standard location for this plate, you can either measure, measure, measure some more, and then when you're sure you have the placement correct, measure some more. Or contact a couple case manufacturers and ask them is they have a specification you coud get a copy of.
There may also be some specs on the net somewhere, but I would have no idea where to look...
Good luck with it. I would love to see the end results when you get it finished. I have been considering building my own case for a while now, I'm just afraid I would end up throwing away more materials than it would be worth.
Thats just for the present mothrboard design. In just a few months we are going to get hit with BTX motherboards and I am sad to say that these puppies will not work in out present ATX cases. These new boards flip the whole motherboard around 180 degrees. This means that were you AGP and PCI clots are now will be were your PS2, USB, and Printer orts will be and the AGP,PCI, and PCI Express slots will be were they were. Why they feel the need for this drastic change is beyond me but that is what is coming down the pike. So if you build a custom case make sure it is something that you want to live with for sometime because whrn the new boards hit the street it is not going to be an easy upgrade as it has been.
Thanx guys. Im trying to avoud having to tear down the server to get all measurements. Looks like that aint gonna happen. My friend made a 3D model of what im tryin to do. Ill get it from him.
Thanx Emptyglass. Im sure that will help. 
I got a question for the modders here. Im planning to have this case im building on its back. With the fans and cords facing down. I will have the case raised 2"-3" off the ground. My question is: Should I have 1 fan be an intake and 1 fan be an exhaust? I was planning to make some sort of scoop for the fans so there not just pulling and exhausting the same air.
Well in my opinion Ive found that having a Duct going straight from the processor heatsink area straight to a output fan greatly cools the interior of the case
Good idea. I think the Dells are done that way. I use a Zalmans 7000 HSF on the CPU. I got a lot of design work to do. Im trying to make the case seamless.